BELOW Deck: Sailing Yacht star Gary King has been accused of sexually assaulting a female staff member after a night out.
The incident allegedly happened in July 2022, and Bravo producers were immediately made aware of the situation.
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Samantha Suarez - who worked in the make-up department with talent managers and assisted in getting the Below Deck cast members food and drinks during their season four stay in Sardinia, Italy - alleged that Gary, 34, assaulted her in his hotel room.
She claimed that after drinking one night, she escorted Gary back to his room, where he started "behaving erratically."
Samantha then retreated to get him food and water, but when she returned, he apparently answered the door in his underwear and pleaded for her not to leave.
The makeup guru detailed the event to Rolling Stone: "I stepped into the room to set the case of waters down and again, he’s repeating, ‘Don’t leave,’ and I was like, ‘I have to go, I’m not staying."
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She then alleged to the publication that he "came up behind her, grabbed her, pressed her against his body, and refused to let go of her."
Samantha claimed in order to free herself from Gary's grasp, she "kicked and elbowed him to get off her."
Production bosses were notified of the incident, and Gary was ordered to stay away from the hotel and spend the remainder of filming on the boat.
A spokesperson from Bravo further explained: "Bravo is committed to maintaining a safe and respectful workplace for cast and crew on our reality shows. We require our third-party production companies to have appropriate workplace policies and training in place and a clear process on how to report concerns. The concerns Ms. Suarez raised in July 2022 were investigated at that time, and action was taken based on the findings."
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'TRAUMATIZED'
But this allegedly wasn't the first time that Gary has gotten himself into hot water with staff members.
Sources told The Rolling Stone that there have been numerous occurrences where the reality star acted inappropriately toward the females on set.
They also alleged that Gary even grabbed the genitals of a male camera operator and had received multiple warnings over his behavior.
"It was insane. There were multiple incidents of sexual harassment in front of multiple producers after this person had been given verbal warnings multiple times," the insider claimed.
According to emails Samantha sent to the production company behind Below Deck, she was not pleased with how the situation was handled and felt things would've been addressed differently had she been a crew member.
"My feelings/emotions about what happened feel diminished. I can’t help but think, had it been a crew member, it would have been handled differently. I honestly feel quite traumatized by the whole situation," she wrote to COO of 51 Minds Entertainment, Zach Klein.
Samantha was apparently put in touch with Human Resources following the incident; however, she claimed not much was done to rectify the matter.
"Nobody knew how to handle [my situation], and I think that's why it was handled so poorly because nobody knew what to do or what the right thing to do was," she told Rolling Stone.
"I was told there weren't any protocols, and the only thing was to reach out to HR, but even then, nothing was really happening."
SCANDALOUS SHIPMATES
The incident came to light just weeks after two stars of the spin-off series, Below Deck: Down Under, were fired over sexual misconduct allegations.
Earlier this month, it was revealed that Captain Jason Chambers, 50, fired Luke Jones, 35, and Laura Bileskaline, 31, from the show.
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Luke's dismissal was due to him making unwanted advances toward his co-star, Margot Sisson, 28, after a night of drinking.
Laura also made a move on her co-star, Adam Kodra, 34, which was not returned and ultimately got her the boot as well.
If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673.
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